The present invention relates to window coverings and especially to a window covering adapted to be used as a venetian blind or as a folding pleated shade or as a combination of the two.
Venetian blinds have been used for several hundred years and have included a wide variety of improvements over the years. Venetian blinds today typically have a head rail for attaching the blinds to a window or door opening and have a plurality of slats held with a slat supporting cord or ladder tape attached at one end to the head rail. A bottom rail is attached at the other end of the slat supporting tape. Venetian blinds typically have lift cords which can lift the venetian blinds from the bottom rail up and a cord lock is mounted in the head rail for locking the raised blinds in any desired position. Venetian blinds also typically have tilt controls which can tilt the slat support tape to tilt the blinds to any angle desired for blocking the entrance of sunlight or for blocking visibility into or out of a window opening.
Window shades on the other hand have typically been mounted on rolls and are frequently found with springloaded rollers with catch mechanisms so that they can be rolled down to cover a portion of a window opening. However, there have been a great many variations and improvements to fabric window shades and these might include anything from roll down bamboo shades to a foldable pleated fabric shade in which each fold is similar to a venetian blind slat except attached along the elongated edge such that they fold one onto the other. This does have the advantage of allowing the pleated shade to be operated similar to a venetian blind in terms of raising or lowering the shade but without the use of a tilt mechanism.
The present invention is directed towards a window covering which has a full venetian blind and pleated shade combined such that the pleated shade is attached to the bottom rail of the venetian blind and can be independently operated from a lift cord attached to the head rail of the venetian blind. When the pleated shade is pulled all the way up against the bottom rail of the venetian blind, it appears to be an additional raised blind portion. However, the venetian blind can be raised all the way up separately and the pleated shade dropped so that the window covering appears to be a pleated foldable shade rather than a venetian blind. In addition, the venetian blind and the pleated shade can each be raised or lowered to any degree desired such that one using the present invention can have a venetian blind or a pleated shade or a combination and variation of the two simultaneously for covering a window opening.
Typical prior art U.S. Pats. may be seen in the Hsu Pat. No. 4,621,672 and in the G.A. Lombard Pat. No. 3,111,164 and in the C.B. White Pat. No. 2,706,522 which patents are for window blinds having a plurality of slats which can be set for different tilts. The U.S. Pat. Nos. to S. Pinto No. 2,914,122 is for a combination vinyl plastic venetian blind and screen and No. 2,994,370 is a combination venetian blind and screen. U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,789 to Ronkholz-Tolle, nee Tolle is for a slatted curtain.